A Dubious Number One

You are reading Jiblog, Google's number one search result for "German Kink". I knew I never should have married into a German family.

Brewers' in the Playoffs

That's the first time anyone could say that...since the internet came into existence. I was in a local watering hole when the Mets lost to clinch it for the Brewers, and I enjoyed the small roar that went up. I can barely remember 1982, which is more than a lot of Brewers fans can say. Tonight, I only want two things: One of those ugly assed hats the Crew wore on the field after the game, and a piece of confetti from the stadium.

The Risk of Protecting the Taxpayer

As distasteful as the pending bailout is, I'm hoping that House Republicans understand one thing, and one thing only. Right now they are trying to force a better bill and correctly saying that they are trying to protect the taxpayers. But if they are the reason a plan doesn't get done and things go to hell in a hand basket next week, they will have hurt the taxpayer more than they could have ever imagined.

2006 Wasn't as Fun as I'd Thought It Would Be

I wrote this in 2004:

2006 is going to be a fun year for historians and possibly for the rest of us, as well. Why? 20 million emails from the Clinton years will become available to researchers.

Remember anything from those emails? Nope, me either.

Okay, Maybe One More Political Thought

I was in my car on Wednesday and I was listening to WTMJ. I heard two political ads. In one, it was claimed that John McCain opposed stem cell research. In the other, John McCain's support of stem cell research was trumpeted. I follow politics closely enough to know the back stories. Most people who will vote in November do not, and I honestly wonder what they will be basing their decisions off of with all of this muddled, murky information out there.

Just one Political Thought

And with a big Brewers, Badgers, and Packers weekend on the docket, this may be my only political thought of the weekend: Neither of these Presidential candidates is ready for the America they are going to inherit. Can we have a do over and nominate Romney?

What debate?

I'm beginning to understand how sports like baseball were such a popular diversion in the 1930's. What debate? What economic problems? The Milwaukee Brewers are up a game in the Wild Card chase with two games to go!

Sometimes, it is good to be wrong

And right now, I very much am wrong.

When there are no experts

You know you have a mess on your hands when the number of 'experts' offering their opinion on a topic drops to nearly nil because nobody really understands what the hell is going on for sure.

Uh Oh

This isn't good.

Urgent efforts to lash together a $700 billion rescue plan for the national economy broke apart Thursday night, hours after key lawmakers had declared they had reached a deal.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sped to Capitol Hill to try to revive or rework the proposal that the administration says must be quickly approved by Congress to stave off economic disaster.

Congressional leaders were to meet with the economic chiefs into the night.

This bail out not being done yet wouldn't have been a big deal if not for a cascading series of screw ups. The markets have been very panicky for several weeks now. This week, in an effort to force the bailout through, the rhetoric heated up with calls of pending economic doom, culminating with the President's speech to the nation. If this deal gets done smoothly, the rhetoric isn't a problem. But now that the deal has collapsed, the panic is due to hit a feverish pitch when the markets open tomorrow. And the worst part about it is the panic will be a self fulfilled prophecy from Washington. They have no choice but to find a way to salvage this overnight because they made this deal appear to be the only way to save the economy.

Update
I decided that this post needed one more thought to be more complete. I hope that I'm wrong about how I think the markets will react in the morning. Things like financial panics only require a speck of dust around which to begin quickly crystallizing, though, and this looks like a ripe speck of dust.

Eric Gagne a Good Guy

This is a hell of a nice thing for him to do:

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Eric Gagne bought 5,000 tickets to tonight's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates and plans to give them away.

"Tonight we'll be playing one of the most important games in franchise history, and I can think of no better way to thank the fans than giving families an opportunity to pack Miller Park," Gagne said in a statement released by the team. "No matter what happens over these next four games, I want everyone to know that I think the world of Brewers fans. Three million times they have walked through the gates this year and none of us on the field takes their support for granted. We're going to have some fun out here, and I know that the atmosphere will be electric."

Brewer fans have booed Gagne with a passion this season. He didn't have to do that, and if I had been him, I don't think I would have.

If I had no other reason to not vote for Obama...

...this one reason would still be enough. The %&$#*@^ Teamsters are wearing my %&$#*@^ phone out with all their %&$#*@^ calls on behalf of Barack Obama. At first, it was live calls. After 3 calls, I started hanging up on them immediately. That seemed to make them call more often. We then told them to stop calling. They didn't, so we just stopped answering when the caller ID read 000-000-0000. Then we started getting recorded calls. And surveys. I will say, I stopped the surveys (they had horribly slanted questions) by answering with the most right wing answers I could. They are worse than any telemarketer I experienced before the no call list. They are on my last nerve. And finally, this is the most dogged they've been over the last three elections, and I don't trust the reasons why they are pestering for Obama.

I have no words for this accident

This is an unbelievable accident.

A 6-year-old girl is recovering after surgeons reattached her left hand, severed when it was caught in a loop of jump rope that had snagged on the axle of her mother's car.

Erica Rix underwent 10 hours of surgery after the accident in early September and spent nine days in intensive care before returning home.

Bravo to the surgeons. And as someone who hopes to be a parental type in the next year or two, I now understand even better why my parents were hard asses about the dumb things I did as a kid.

How I helped save the music industry

Hyperbole? I think not. Here is what I wrote on October 13th of last year:

Digital music is certainly a growth sector. People love buying music online. But there is an old school segment of the market that still isn't all that big on the internet. So for them, and for some who are internet savvy but love shopping at bricks and mortar stores, set up kiosks in record stores and big boxes. Partner with flash drive manufacturers, and at these kiosks sell flash drives filled with music that the user can sample and select from on the computer screen.

I had a more primitive version of this concept on May 4, 2006. So what's on the horizon? This.

SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) today announced "slotMusic," an initiative that aims to position its microSD memory cards as a new music medium. The vendor has partnered with the major music labels EMI Music, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group to produce microSD cards preloaded with music free of digital rights management (DRM) copy protection.

The cards will be available from both online and retail stores including Best Buy and Wal-Mart, SanDisk said.

You're welcome, music industry (and memory card industry). If you'd have listened to me earlier, you'd be all the richer right now. You may deposit, out of goodwill, a small fee in my checking account at any time.

What is in that waterfall?

This just ain't right.

Nicole Kidman has credited a waterfall with bringing about a flurry of pregnancies - including her own - on the set of one of her films, Australia.

The actress said seven babies had been conceived during production of the film in a small town in Australia's outback.

"There is something up there in the Kununurra water", in which she and six other woman swam, she told The Australian Women's Weekly.

Strangely, all of the babies looked like Michael Phelps.

Rest in Peace, Bill Leinenkugel

Former President of the Leinenkugel Brewing Company, Bill Leinenkugel, passed away at his home Monday at age 87. I heard about this yesterday but did not have the time to put into the post I wanted to write. I never had the opportunity to get to know Bill, but I did get to know one of his sons and a couple of his grandsons. It is no exaggeration to say that his leadership of the company carried it through what was a very tough time for regional breweries and set it up to be what is now a quite strong subsidiary of SABMiller. What won't get mentioned as often over the next several days is the class act family that he helped raise. On behalf of the Ojibway family, I offer my condolences to the Leinenkugel family on their loss.

Wiseacre

I've decided to drop the word 'wiseacre' from my vocabulary. As I wrote it in the post below, I felt myself age 75 years-no mean feat for a 32 year old. And the scary part? Afterwards I went to the outhouse with a copy of the Saturday Evening Post. The lovely Mrs. Jib is going to be pissed in the morning.

Just the same, I wish I had those crazy moving picture skills of kids today, because I'd be the wiseacre posting a parcel to the intertubes. Dagnabbit!

Biden's Spaghetti Bowl History

Maybe this is a just condemnation of the quality of our U.S Senators.

Vice presidential candidate Joe Biden says today's leaders should take a lesson from the history books and follow fellow Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt's response to a financial crisis.

"When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened,'" Barack Obama's running mate recently told the "CBS Evening News."

Except, Republican Herbert Hoover was in office when the stock market crashed in October 1929. There also was no television at the time; TV wasn't introduced to the public until a decade later, at the 1939 World's Fair.

I'm not a huge fan of jumping on gaffes because we all make them, but only politicians have the camera on them all of the time. This one is particularly absurd, though. I'm not sure Biden controls his mouth...I think it controls him.

I'm betting some wiseacre has a video of Roosevelt on TV in 1929 on YouTube in 5...4...3...

Advanced Notice on Talk Like A Yooper Day

A commenter on an old post asked me when Talk Like a Yooper Day will be this year. Set your calendars for November 30, 2008. That will be this year's Talk Like a Yooper Day as it is the date of the first home Packer game during the Wisconsin gun deer hunt.

And the there is the Milwaukee Brewers...

I remember how desperate I was for Packers' success in the late 1980's and early 1990's. I am nearly as desperate today for Brewers' success. Only with the Brewers, there is no "glory days" to fall back on. And that's why this month is so painful and so damn depressing. It looks like they are going to collapse on themselves to again miss the playoffs. If they do, I'm not sure that it is entirely a bad thing because the way they are playing, a first round sweep is a strong possibility. Unlike the Packers, there is no Ron Wolf, no Mike Holmgren, and no Reggie White for the Brewers. They may yet surprise me this year, but I'm prepared to have a season's worth of hope crushed yet again.

Man Candles? Really?

May God help us.

My foray into the world of "man candles" began almost accidentally. As the smell of fresh, black coffee wafted around my office one morning, I thought to myself, "Someone should make a coffee-scented candle."

Not a cappuccino or hazelnut or mocha candle. Just something that smelled like hot, strong, black coffee. You know, a candle that a dude could be proud to burn.

A quick Google search led me to two eCommerce sites that sell all sorts of man-themed scents -- like campfire, sawdust, pigskin, bacon, stripper and beer.

I just hope they don't come out with "jock strap" or "gym socks."

Hagel Said...Yawn

Chuck Hagel is doing everything in his power to marginalize himself. To wit:

Senior Republican Senator Chuck Hagel has voiced doubts about Sarah Palin's qualifications for the vice-presidency.

John McCain's running mate "doesn't have any foreign policy credentials", Mr Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald.

Mr Hagel was a prominent supporter of Mr McCain during his 2000 bid for the US presidency, but has declined to endorse either candidate this year.

He was opposed to the Iraq War, and recently joined Mr McCain's rival Barack Obama on a Middle East trip.

Hagel might have been a real force for the Democrats if not for the fact that he is canceled out by former Democratic Veep candidate Joe Lieberman.

Who Won't Be Voting for John McCain?

Well, Christopher Cox won't be:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Thursday he would, if elected, fire U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox for failing in his oversight of Wall Street.

"The Chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the president and in my view has betrayed the public's trust," McCain told a rally in the electoral battleground state of Iowa. "If I were president today, I would fire him."

The comments by McCain, who portrays himself as a maverick in his bid for the White House, contrasted with the view of fellow Republican President George W. Bush, who appointed Cox to the SEC post in 2005.

Apparently, McCain also decided that there was at least one vote that he didn't need.

RSS Feeds Killed the Blogging Star

First, Let me make this clear. Calling myself a blogging star is a gross exaggeration but it was necessary to make the headline fit the song. Still, in all seriousness, RSS feeds have really contributed to my backslide as a blogger. It used to be I was a blogger first. I read media sources and opinion columns and commented from there.

Then I set up my RSS feed reader.

I began reading other blogs fanatically. At first, this barely made a dent in my blogging. Over time, though, I'd begin seeing posts that were similar to my thoughts on particular topics. I'd tweak my thoughts so they were a bit more unique. Then I started to get lazy. I'd start to Instapundit posts-you know, saying "heh" or "hmm" and then link to other things without any commentary. But that disgusted me, so I began to just let hundreds of topics go by without comment. After a short period of that, I realized that it was pointless for a blog of this size to blog like Glenn Reynolds, so I just withdrew from posting.

Of course, there have been other things that have contributed to my decline as a blogger. The more I devoted my brain to my profession, the harder I found it to switch gears to commentary. I also found that the more involved I got with my hobby of photography, the less creative capacity I had for writing. It has been difficult to shift the brain gears between the three very different mental tasks, but the RSS feeds remain the biggest challenge. RSS feeds have turned me from a blogger to a blog reader.

Given that, do I intend to give up blogging? Hardly. Just the same, I know that my place in the pecking order of blogs has significantly declined, and deservedly so.

Pragmatist

Pragmatist (noun)- 1) A free market capitalist who stands idly by as government gets ass deep in the financial markets knowing that without said intervention, the credit markets would freeze up like the pistons on a 1962 Dodge Lancer. 2) An individual who'd prefer to see an economy slowly float to its bottom like a feather on the wind to one that plunges to the ground like Michael Moore without a parachute.

I must admit, since I enjoy being employed and paying my bills, I'm standing idly by with my mouth firmly shut as the Feds muck around in the economy. Do I think it is a good thing? No, not really. Do I think it prolongs the pain? Certainly. Do I think that there are plenty of unforeseen circumstances to come because of the intervention? Without a doubt. Do I think I'm personally better off if this mess unfolds slowly rather than in a quick, violent seizing up of the economy? I do, and that's why I've yet to complain.

The McCain-Palin Courtship

This is pretty funny.

Great Speech By Sarah Palin

But I'm almost embarrassed to admit to what part relieved me the most. Can you guess just what that was?

Answer? No pants suit.

Airline to charge extra for butts in seats

(JNN) Welter Air today announced a revolutionary new plan to help it cope with high fuel prices. Starting on November 26, 2008, the airline will remove passengers from its flights to reduce the weight of planes, saving untold billions.

In a statement to reporters, Welter CEO Walter Flounder said that this lean operation plan should also reduce crowding on planes and help the airline return to profitability by 2012.

"Many of our loyal customers may see this as a negative, but in reality we are offering an incredible customer service.

"No longer will our customers have to worry about long lines, delays, cancellations, or unpleasant, crowded flights."

The company is assuring customers that pre-paid, checked baggage will make it to their final destination most of the time. Those customers who must actually fly to their destinations will have the option of paying a $300 butt-in-seat fee to be transported to the flight's destination.

Other airlines are closely watching Welter's plan and most are expected to eventually follow suit. Industry experts are hailing the move as a customer service and profitability model that will forever change the airline business for the better.

(This post is satire)

No identity politics here

The lovely Mrs. Jib is peacefully dosing through the Palin speech.

Update
I see Trig Palin is listening with the same rapt attention.

Thank you so much means...

Shhh! I'm ready to talk.

Watching Giuliani...

...and I'm beginning to think that he is a more valuable weapon in this role than he would have been as the Presidential nominee. They never could have turned him loose this way as the nominee.

Wisconsin Factoid

There is an Athens and a Marathon in Wisconsin. Distance, by road, between the two? Only 18.7 miles.

Also, Athens, Wisconsin has never been at war with Sparta, Wisconsin.

Future Lefty Political Attacks

Since the great 'Desperate Housewives political attack of 2008' on Sarah Palin has been snuffed out, I've decided to take a gander at some possible future attacks from those on the left with a very loose grasp on reality. Here are two attacks that I think very well may be forthcoming.

1. A double whammy strikes the Republican ticket. Sarah Palin has actually been possessed by demons, explaining how a woman could possibly be a Republican. At the top of the ticket, we find out that the man that returned from Vietnam isn't the real John McCain. Instead, we learn his real name is John Black when the real John McCain shows up. Interestingly, the real John McCain is a Kerry Democrat. (Days of Our Lives)

2. John McCain is really an alien from a another world who has hit his head so hard that he thinks that he is a U.S. Senator running for President. It is up to Al and Tipper Gore to bring back his memories so he remembers who he is and gives up on the U.S. Senator persona. (Alf)

3.

Palin to be a Grandmother

Guess what? Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter is five months pregnant:

John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin said Monday that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five months pregnant, an announcement aimed at rebutting Internet rumors that Palin's youngest son, born in April, was actually her daughter's.

A statement released by the campaign said that Bristol Palin will keep her baby and marry the child's father. Bristol Palin is five months pregnant, and the baby is due in late December.

Makes that lefty, Depserate Housewives-esque smear look really stupid, doesn't it? Unfortunately for Bristol Palin, she's going to have to grow up in a hurry, because her teenage pregnancy will be the next thing the sewer dogs on the left will be attacking.

Update
Elliot makes an excellent point.